(by Emmet Fox -- submitted by Jim O'Neill)
"The American Dream is not a fine theory to be written upon paper, but a life to be lived, for its own sake and for the sake of the nation, and for the sake of Humanity."
Emmet Fox (1886-1951)
Emmet Fox was born in Ireland, and raised in England, where his physician father was a member of Parliament. British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, was a regular visitor at the Fox home in England.
Although he was born in Ireland (at his mother's insistence), he was conceived in the United States, and "Emmet always claimed that being conceived in New York gave him an American soul," ( from "
Emmet Fox: His Life Story").
Emmet moved to the United States as an adult, where he fell in love with his adopted country, and wrote the words below, over a half century ago. They remain as true today as when he first wrote them.
Fox had a deep appreciation for the fact that the United States was built on the principles of personal freedom, growth, courage, and integrity -- not to mention Judeo-Christian ethics and morality.
A cookie-cutter mentality, personal stagnation, secularism, and a slavish dependence on a government bureaucracy, may be the "bread and butter" of Marxist/Fascist drones, and their puppet-masters, but such things are anathema to the true American spirit.
Happy birthday, America.
Godspeed, Jim O'Neill
"The American Dream"
- Emmet Fox
The task which each American has before him is to realize the American Dream in his own life, to the utmost that he is able, by making himself personally free; free in body, and soul, and spirit.
Free in body, by demonstrating bodily health.
Free in soul, by liberating himself, as far as he can, from every clogging prejudice, whether of party, or race, or creed, or caste; from all the snobbery and limitation that centuries of oppression have burned-in to the life of the Old World.
Free in spirit, by rising above all the fetters of personal greed and jealousy, petty spite, mean pride, and small resentments that are the common handicap of humanity in all countries.
The American Dream is not a fine theory to be written upon paper, but a life to be lived, for its own sake and for the sake of the nation, and for the sake of Humanity.
The finest Constitution, and the greatest Declaration of Independence ever made are but phrases until they are incorporated into the practical lives of living people.
And so, unless you are seeking to embody the American Spirit in your own personal life and conduct, you are no true American, even though you may have authentic Mayflower ancestry.
Jim ONeill——
Bio and Archives
Born June 4, 1951 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Served in the U.S. Navy from 1970-1974 in both UDT-21 (Underwater Demolition Team) and SEAL Team Two. Worked as a commercial diver in the waters off of Scotland, India, and the United States. Worked overseas in the Merchant Marines. While attending the University of South Florida as a journalism student in 1998 was presented with the “Carol Burnett/University of Hawaii AEJMC Research in Journalism Ethics Award,” 1st place undergraduate division. (The annual contest was set up by Carol Burnett with money she won from successfully suing a national newspaper for libel). Awarded US Army, US Navy, South African, and Russian jump wings. Graduate of NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School, 1970). Member of Mensa, China Post #1, and lifetime member of the NRA and UDT/SEAL Association.
